I Found a Wife Whose Engagement was Broken Off in the Neighboring

"Gentle? Me?"

I shrugged my shoulders, feigning a bit of surprise, but Mademoiselle Citroen remained stiff.

"Even when we first met at the engagement ceremony, you protected me... And since coming to this country, you've treated me so well..."

"Well... That's..."

I hunched my back slightly to enter her line of sight.

"Because we're going to be husband and wife, aren't we? It's normal for a husband to treat his wife well."

"Husband and wife," Mademoiselle Citroen murmured.

At that moment, I felt a sense of unease.

The woman in front of me was looking directly at me with clear eyes.

But...

How should I put it? It felt like she was looking past me.

Through me, she was seeing something else.

What could it be? I stared at Mademoiselle Citroen intently.

However, she said nothing, remaining silent for a long time.

"...Your Highness," she finally called out to me after what felt like an eternity. Her eyes, fixed on me, were filled with tension, and her shoulders had been rigid for a while.

"Would you mind looking at my Dragon Mark?" As expected, she asked me politely.

"Dragon Mark... No, that's..."

I was truly flustered. After all, hadn't she said it was in the middle of her chest?

"The Dragon Mark was my pride. At least, in my homeland."

Mademoiselle Citroen's small, round face, usually soft with a gentle smile, curved her lips like a peaceful crescent moon. She was like a ray of sunshine, warm and comforting like freshly baked pastries.

But now, she was tense, enveloped in an atmosphere like the sky just before a lightning strike.

"The Dragon is a god to our country, and the country itself. I was raised to believe that royalty bearing its mark is inherently noble and embodies the nation itself."

Mademoiselle Citroen's eyes were like amethyst. Her very being was like a gemstone. Her existence itself was like a precious stone to me.

"I've heard the same."

Even though I nodded honestly, she let out a pained and strained breath.

Despite looking so distressed, she said, "Thank you."

"I am truly nothing but grateful to the people of this country who understand and empathize with our history and culture."

"That's because Citroen loves this country just as much."

In fact, she hadn't spoken her native language until I urged her, and she hadn't even attempted to wear her homeland's clothes until now.

"However, I've learned firsthand that not all countries return kindness with kindness."

Such words escaped her downturned gaze.

"...I'm sorry. That was a slip of the tongue."

She lifted her face, her expression firm. Her strangely colored silver hair swayed, leaving shimmering afterimages in the air.

"It's all my inadequacy."

"Stop blaming yourself for everything that's happened."

Sharp words slipped out, but for some reason, Mademoiselle Citroen looked pleased.

"You really are kind, Your Highness. Unchanged from before."

Smiling, she remained silent for a while.

There it is again, I thought. She keeps saying I'm 'unchanged from before.'

When and where did we meet? I have no memory of it at all.

I stared intently at her. She bit her lower lip, unmoving.

She was hesitating about something. Yet, she was trying to say it. She was trying to convey something to me.

Then, all I could do was wait.

Silence isn't bad. Sometimes, time gently embraces someone.

"That... that feeling of aversion is something I can't help."

Quietly, Mademoiselle Citroen began to speak

.

However, it wasn't about us meeting in the past.

"I... well, I dislike spiders. Those many long legs and compound eyes..." She shivered slightly, as if imagining them.

"Is there anything you dislike, Your Highness?"

When she asked, I immediately replied, "My mother and the Crown Prince," which made her burst into laughter.

"Right... Hmm."

With a lingering chuckle, Mademoiselle Citroen blinked a few times.

"For example, let's say there's someone like me who dislikes spiders... And then someone with a spider tattoo appears before them."

Mademoiselle Citroen looked at me and smiled sadly.

"Can Your Highness like someone who has something they hate applied to their body?"

Ah, this is about Crown Prince Arios, I realized.

I don't know what he dislikes. Is it fish?

Scales? Tattoos? Or does he simply dislike the Kingdom of Tania?

Crown Prince Arios... he had a physiological aversion.

To Mademoiselle Citroen.

No, to the Dragon Mark applied to Mademoiselle Citroen's body. That's what triggered his aversion.

"If I possess something that causes a physiological rejection... then I surely can't be liked."

Hearing Mademoiselle Citroen speak so plainly, instead of feeling sad, I started to feel angry.

Her purple eyes glistening, her peach-colored lips... I desperately suppressed the urge to shout, "Don't speak of that man!"

I wanted to scream, "Forget him already!"

"Isn't it me standing before you now? He's gone."

"So, Your Highness, please look at my Dragon Mark."

"Look, and do what?"

I realized a combative tone had escaped my lips.

"Should I hate it? Should I say it's disgusting? Like that man?"

Only mean words kept popping out. Even though I was five years older than this girl in front of me, I was incredibly irritated.

Why was this girl trying to compare me to such a despicable man?

"You're different from that Crown Prince," Mademoiselle Citroen declared unequivocally. She clutched the pillow tightly and leaned forward towards me, almost lifting herself from her seat.

"I tried to like that Crown Prince. I tried to love him. I tried to respect him as a husband. But it was impossible. How do you think I could forgive someone who detests, abhors, and scoffs at me? I am no saint."

Seeing tears like crystal beads stream from her purple eyes, I came back to my senses. I had said too much. I knew of her efforts, her struggles, her difficulties.

"Citroen..."

I called her name, but no words followed. I'm sorry, my apologies, that's not what I meant. Before I could say such things, Mademoiselle Citroen spoke.

"Being disliked by someone you don't care about doesn't hurt. Being rejected by a person like that doesn't pain or bother me. But, Ar..."

Mademoiselle Citroen started to say something, then swallowed the end of her sentence. With tears like transparent jewels flowing, Mademoiselle Citroen said to me, "I don't want to be disliked by Your Highness."

She said it as if straining.

"I have a very favorable impression of Prince Salu. I love you, who cherishes me. I even wish you would love me back."

Gasp.

Mademoiselle Citroen's words pressed against my chest.

At the same time, an exhale and a meaningless "Huh?" escaped me.

"But if you feel a physiological aversion, I must give up. Because no matter what I do, you'll never come to like me."

Mademoiselle Citroen, suppressing a sob deep in her throat, seemed so fleeting, so ethereal, as if she might simply vanish from before me.

"I won't dislike you."

Just to keep her present, I reached out my hand to grasp her elbow.

"That's why I want you to see my Dragon Mark. Here, now."

But she twisted away as if escaping my hand, shaking her head. Tears scattered.

"If seeing it makes you feel disgusted, then I will extinguish these feelings of mine. Now, I can still make up my mind. I can live as a mere doll. And I will simply continue the marriage for the sake of your country and mine."

The remnants of tears fell from her eyelashes. She looked at me with a dignified expression.

She was testing me.

"So, the Dragon Mark..."

"Show it to me."

I cut off Mademoiselle Citroen's words mid-sentence.

Her purple eyes fixed on me, then she silently nodded once.